There is plenty more on the way as I get time to organize and assemble it all. This has been in progress for several years

And now for something very special...
Presented below with permission from Senator Boyce are pictures of his NOS Lincoln air breather. There have been a few high dollar sales of Super Marauder equipment over the last decade, and this is one of them although prices seem to have softened in the last few years due to the economy.

As Mr. Boyce explained to me, he found it through a Lincoln freak in New Jersey who tipped him off that the NOS air breather was in the possession of an old gear head in Los Angeles who wanted to get rid of it. It took about six weeks to get the deal done but he did. The old gear head was named Herman Eugster who was also known as "The Duke." The air breather accompanied an original SM intake manifold, bill of sale is attached. Not sure how "The Duke" got ahold of this rare in-the-box piece of history, but my research indicates that Duke passed away almost exactly 4 months after selling it which is probably why he agreed to let it out of his possession. We will never know the full story, but this is a significant missing link in the record for several reasons I explain below.

Note the polished aluminum finish. Highly-polished but not to the point of looking like a chrome job.

Note the box flap with Lincoln part number 5751514.

This numbering convention was implemented sometime in 1957 and carried into 1959. Prior to 1957, the convention was usually a three letter alpha such as BAK, and by early 1959 it had switched to the B9ME convention which is continued today. The box suggests that Ford was intending to produce a SM400 setup for the Lincoln although there is scant reference to this setup in the parts books as ever existing for the Lincoln.

Original box padding is provided via Los Angeles Times newspaper dated Tuesday November 12, 1957. This is consistent with when and where the air breathers would have been manufactured. Lynn Wineland designed the air breathers in the Summer of 1957 and Dean Moon likely cast them in the Summer/Fall of 1957 in Los Angeles.

Note the NOS wingnuts and carburetor studs supplied in the linen pouch.

The carburetor studs are interesting in that one of them is identified as specifically for the rear carburetor mounting. I can only surmise that that stud must be slightly longer or shorter to accommodate a difference in thickness of the air cleaner from the front mount to the rear mount.

The air breather is held down by 3 large bulbous nuts, as I say with a pair of devil's horns, that screw onto a 2½" long ¼" diameter stud that is threaded on both ends. The studs are then screwed into the center of each carburetor. Thread pitch has been reported at ¼" x 20 (coarse) but has also been found in some instances to be ¼" x 28 (fine), although all carbs in the set would be tapped the same pitch. This means that some tripower sets may have studs that are ¼" coarse on both ends whereas other sets may have studs that are ¼" fine on the longer threaded ends that screw into the carbs.

This NOS air breather is simply beautiful, and I promised to recognize the young and cute Sarah Boyce who also appears in the photos. Senator was intending to add tripower to his pink 1959 Continental convertible, but after much consideration had a change of heart. The history on this air breather is told in Senator's 2004 Ebay description which I have reprinted below. It ended up selling for $7,500 to another collector who was restoring a 1958 Continental convertible which I believe is now a beautiful show car in Southern California.
Ladies & Gentlemen:

What you see is the only one of its kind. With only a handful ever made, probably less than 100, I can say with a reasonable certainty that this is the only one in the world. You are looking at a New Old Stock (NOS) Lincoln Tripower Air Cleaner that was made for 1958 Lincoln Continentals as a dealer installed option. Lincoln Part Number 5751514.

Lincoln lovers all know the story of this fuel system, so there is no need to revisit that here. This item came to me through a tip over the internet. After I physically verified its authenticity, it took several months to extract it from its original owner. It was recently delivered to me here in Denver, and I have spent a good bit of time admiring it, and deciding what I want to do with it. Because of the rarity of this item, however, I feel compelled to offer it to the marketplace for sale at a very high reserve.

It's rarity is further enhanced by the fact that it includes the original filter element, most likely the only one in existence as well. In addition, it includes the 3 wing nuts, 3 carburetor studs & tag, and 3 rubber carburetor gaskets. All of the hex head nuts holding the two halves of the air cleaner together are there.

It is in the same condition as the day it was built. There are no defects other than the ones it was built with. There is a touch of cosmolene from its original packing on one end, but I am not going to remove it. That should be left for its owner to enjoy.

I have the original box, although it is in rough shape. Intact however, is the important part the box end flap with the part number on it. It also includes the newspaper in which it was wrapped in the fall of 1957, the Los Angeles Times no less.

Terms are cash, ACH, or certified funds, only. Buyer pays for shipping and insurance. This item must be insured upon shipment. I will not be responsible for potential damages in shipping. This item cannot be replaced.

Do not bid unless you are ready to buy. Good Luck!

Last edited by 58-Pagoda on Thu 3. Jan 2013, 20:24, edited 1 time in total.

Here are some nice scans of two Super Marauder setups that were part of the Jerry Capizzi collection and were sold by RM Auctions in November 2006. Scans are from the auction handbook and were kindly provided by Joe in Kentucky. Thanks very much Joe!

LOT 221: 1958 Mercury Super Marauder package- Sold for $3,450, plus 15% buyer's premium to auction house. Valve covers shown were optional equipment and not originally included in any dealer power kit. Standard SM400 valve covers for J code Mercurys were chromed versions of the regular Mercury stamped steel cover.

LOT 222: 1958 Lincoln Super Marauder package- Sold for $6,900, plus 15% buyer's premium to auction house. What is missing are the optional valve rocker covers that would have been chrome plated versions of the standard Lincoln 430 stamped steel covers.

An exploded diagram of the complete setup. This comes from the 1958-1959 Lincoln Parts Manual. Note the air breather is represented as the Mercury version, and part #11516 (starter vacuum cut-out switch- see upper right in diagram) was a Mercury-only part. Click to enlarge.

When restoring the Walt Faulkner Mexican Road Race 1954 Lincoln in the early 90's, I interviewed Bill Stroppe several times. One of the things he showed me was the three ring binder of the development of the Super Marauder. Unfortunately, I did not take any photos of it. I did collect many other Stroppe related documents about the Mexican Road Race. When I sold the Lincoln in 2009, all of the collection went with the car.

Since then, I have been working on another Stroppe prepared car. A 1958 Mercury California Highway Patrol car. I added photos of the car to this website late 2010 and have finally completed the car. I will add photos.

The new Lincoln Continental was officially unveiled to the public in dealer showrooms on November 1, 1957, and the earliest public unveiling of the Super Marauder option I can find was at the 1957 Los Angeles Auto Show that was held November 14-24, 1957. There is a rumor that may be traced to the Cars & Parts article I posted earlier in this thread that a '58 Lincoln Continental convertible sported the Super Marauder option at this auto show, perhaps even featured on a revolving turntable, however I have not been able to find any hard evidence of this. Nevertheless, the 400HP option is mentioned in the auto show literature. The Super Marauder option must have therefore been well into development before the 1958 cars were ever released to the public. My belief is that it was in underground development between 1956 and 1957 following the AMA racing ban.

Ok ok, here's something not many people have seen before. These scans come from fellow Lincoln collector Joe Paulus, who picked up some old and interesting Lincoln Continental and MEL parts books at a swap meet a few years ago. We were both speechless when we saw this. I've been hanging onto these treasures for some time, trying to fully decipher them and make more sense of them, but it's time to share them here or I may never get around to it. Thank you Joe! Read on...

Finally, proof that the Super Marauder 430-6V performance package was available for Lincoln, at least over the counter from the Lincoln/Mercury dealer. The complete kit was:

Based on US inflation since 1958, the list price of the kit today would be equivalent to $2,832. That's not a bad price when you consider all that was included: tripower intake, carbs, linkage, coolest air cleaner ever designed, and that tripower fuel pump. The rarity of these parts today could easily push actual prices for an all original assembled kit into the stratosphere.

Notice that the kits did not specify or include "super marauder" style valve covers. As has been reported elsewhere, it appears that these had to be separately ordered unless a Mercury was specifically ordered from the factory with the Super Marauder package.

Part#: EDJ-9600-F / (also #5751514 from the evidence provided of the NOS air breather earlier in this thread).
List price= $114.20 in 1958. Equivalent price today = $924.
For an air cleaner, that was very expensive back in the day.

LincX.jpg (21.27 KiB) Viewed 3119 times

Here are 2 originals! They go anywhere from $1,000 to $3,000 for originals today depending on condition.
The one in the background has had the rear cut from it

I suspect the Mercury SM air cleaner would have been priced the same by Ford, although I don't have a listing for it in the scans that I have. That part number was reportedly EDJ-9600-J.

To my knowledge, there are no physical part numbers found on either the Lincoln or Mercury SM air cleaners.